The goal of the Spring Fitness Challenge is to feel more energetic, breathe deeper and live truer every day.

The challenge will begin with an assessment. Each participant will perform four body-weight exercises and three basic kickboxing drills. This data will be used as a baseline to score each contestants improvements after six weeks of workouts. (Beginners will be assessed in their second week.)

Each Drop-In Kickboxing class during the challenge will focus on drills and exercises to improve your kickboxing technique, conditioning and warrior spirit. These engaging workouts will be accessible to all levels of skill and fitness.

HOW DO I WIN PRIZES?

There are three ways to earn points in the Spring Fitness Challenge:

• Weekly Attendance Earn 1,000 points for attending 1 class per week, earn 2,500 points for attending 2 classes (15,000 possible points).
• Daily Food Logs Earn 125 points for each completed daily food log you show us (4,750 possible points). We’re not here to judge or review your diet, the purpose of this activity is to encourage participants to take a closer look at their dietary habits. Eating mindfully during this challenge will help you to achieve positive results.
• Baseline Improvements Earn 30 points for each additional second or repetition over your baseline performance of body-weight exercises and kickboxing drills. For example, if in my first evaluation I held a plank for 45 seconds and in my final evaluation I held a plank for 90 seconds, I would earn 1,350 points for that exercise (45 seconds of improvement x 30 points per second).

At the end of the Spring Fitness Challenge, we will tally up your points. You can then use your points to “buy” prizes from our prize gallery:

Students from our Black Belt Program volunteered to hold pads and demonstrate techniques.

Emily demonstrates a Muay Thai knee strike. This is a common technique in mixed martial arts.

Ballard residents demonstrate a traditional karate “ready” stance.

Participants line up to practice Muay Thai elbow strikes with Krista.

Adding a shoulder grab transforms the Muay Thai knee strike into an effective women’s self-defense technique.

Thanks to Candace Cothran, the branch manager at Umpqua Bank for reaching out to us and hosting this free community event.

2. CONQUER SOUTH AMERICA

Resolutions fail when people set lofty goals. In the board game Risk, it is much easier to conquer and maintain South America than it is to secure and defend Asia. While one player struggles to maintain the high-risk territory, another can sit comfortably in South America collecting armies and fortifying defenses.

If you are fifty pounds overweight, resolve to drop just twenty-five pounds (and keep it off). If you can lose six pounds by the end of March you will be on schedule to complete your resolution. If you try for fifty and only trim six pounds by March you will be disheartened and may give up altogether.

3. STEP UP OR STEP OUT

Montserrat College of Art was a small, hippie art school with limited direction and lax requirements. Ron DiRito taught my favorite course. On the first day of the new semester, we filed doe-eyed into Images & Ideas class and Ron dropped the hammer on us: You miss a critique, you lose a letter grade. You skip three classes, you lose a letter grade. Everyone participates.

Five people dropped the course before the second class. Ron was sending a message: Do you really want to be here? Because, if you don’t, if you can’t change your habits and bring the best of yourself, then leave right now.

If you don’t care enough about your resolution to change your habits, you will fail.

4. STAKE VAMPIRES

A vampire is a foul creature that sucks the life out of you. Vampires love drama. Vampires love negativity. Vampires nurture doubt. Vampires talk and talk and never do. Vampires seduce you with their stupid sparkles and hypnotizing gaze.

Identify the vampires in your life and stake every damned one of them (metaphorically please). If your significant other is a vampire, stake ‘em. It’s cold. It’s harsh. But, it’s the voice of experience. Reassess your friends, block your exes emails, don’t tolerate negativity and doubt from your family. Surround yourself with good people. Become a Fearless Vampire Killer.

If this seems unreasonable, just think of how much time, energy, self-esteem and money these people drain from you. Can you afford not to stake ‘em?

5. WING NIGHT

The monkey in us loves to cooperate, we perform better when others depend on us. As an artist, I produce the most artwork when I meet other artist friends regularly. My buddy Brian and I used to meet at a pub every other Tuesday for thirty-five cent chicken wings. We’d show off our current work over beers and talk about our challenges. Nothing felt worse than than arriving on wing night with no artwork to show.

Share your resolution with friends and ask about their goals. Hold each other accountable. Pick a regular event and commit to attending it together. Be sure it’s consistent (and fun). Keep your commitment at all costs. Cancel only for legit emergencies.

6. WIGGLE YOUR BIG TOE

In Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Uma Thurman’s character, The Bride, comes out of a four-year coma as she is being assaulted. She escapes despite temporary paralysis of her legs She hides out in a truck in the parking garage. Rather than force her weakened legs to drive, she focuses on wiggling her big toe. After many hours, it wiggles. Encouraged, she tries to move the rest of them. Gradually, she regains control of her legs.

Great victories are born of tiny successes. Winning small battles builds momentum. Momentum is powerful. Set manageable goals for yourself and celebrate the easily won milestones along the way. Celebrate your victories and attack each new task with confidence. Remember, writing a novel starts with writing one good sentence.

7. SHED YOUR SKIN

We hold onto the past as if it can protect us from the future. In reality, change is the only thing we can depend on. Embrace change, don’t resist it.

If you are going to make a fresh start in the new year then shed your skin like a lizard and become the next version of yourself. Buy new clothes and take your old threads to Goodwill. Get a radically different haircut. Rearrange your furniture. Paint the walls. Get a tattoo. Change. Change completely.

Throw stuff away. You don’t need it. It’s suffocating you. Redefine yourself on your own terms. If any of your friends or family pass judgment on the new you, then stake their vampire ass.

8. BE LIKE YOGURT

When making yogurt, milk is heated to kill undesirable bacteria and prevent curdling. It is then cooled. A bacteria culture is added and temperature maintained to allow fermentation. Any variation from these conditions and milk will not become yogurt.

Change your habits. Adjust your work schedule. Wake up earlier or go to bed later. Take the bus and read instead of driving to work. Listen to motivational audio books instead of music. Take a class. Find a mentor. Create an environment and day-to-day routines that support life and growth.

9. THINK LIKE A SAMURAI

Resolve, defined as “firmness of purpose” is a keystone value in the code of the samurai. It is the drive that keeps the samurai focused on his commitment to his master and to upholding the way of the warrior. To be a samurai is to align your mental focus moment by moment, day by day to your ultimate purpose.

In Hagakure (“The Book of Falling Leaves”), Yamamoto Tsunetomo discusses the mindset of the samurai:

“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment.”

Discipline and focuses are like muscles: with daily exercise, they become stronger. Pursue your resolutions with the resolve of the samurai.

10. TELL ME

Don’t just think of a resolution. Write it down. Better yet, tell me your resolution. Leave a comment with your 2013 resolutions and I will be your accountabili-buddy (be sure to include your email in the comments form). I will help you to focus your resolution and I will check in with you quarterly to monitor your progress.

I tend to make a bunch of resolutions, but here are three of mine for 2013:

1. Draw 100 industry-standard sized comic book pages in 2013 (these can be stories, character designs, pin-ups, etc).
2. Fill-up enrollment in Kick Fusion, Kids Karate and Self-Defense for Women by creating a remarkable martial arts experience for every student, every time.
3. Refocus on my own martial arts training and increase physical conditioning until I can train hard at full-speed for ninety-minutes.

2013 is our year. I believe in you. Let’s crush it.

STEP 1: UNPACK The tiles arrived in six large boxes of nine panels (with edge pieces). Since we were cutting to fit the room, we had leftover edge pieces.

STEP 2: GATHER TOOLS I used a t-square, utility knife, measuring tape and a blue pencil. Be sure to have extra blades handy, they dull fast on the thick EVA foam.

STEP 3: PICK A CORNER I started in the most square corner of the room. This saved time as I didn’t have to trim the tiles bordering these walls.

STEP 4: MEASURE TWICE By measuring out the obstacles one tile at a time I was able to anticipate angled walls and wavy molding. Don’t forget to accommodate the interlocking tiles in your measurements.

STEP 5: CHECK YOURSELF Line your measurements up with the wall. I erred on the side of cutting smaller openings. You can get an extra eighth of an inch to fit by forcing the piece in.

STEP 6: CUTTING I doubled-up the packaging for a handy cutting mat. I was able to score the foam with two or three slow, deep cuts but the blade isn’t long enough for a complete cut, so you must separate the pieces by hand.

STEP 7: OOPS It is possible that some edges may fall in a weird way against obstacles and result in tabs being partially cut or weakened. This isn’t a defect, it just worked out that the seam fell right against the obstacle I cut out.

STEP 8: FIX-UPS To fix this cut tab, I pushed a few toothpicks through the middle. I would only do this for aesthetic reasons on an edge piece against the wall. Nobody wants to get an accidental toothpick in the foot.

STEP 9: ANCHOR DOWN Once I fixed the loose tab, I fitted the opening around the column against the wall. With a sturdy anchor, we are now free to connect the mats in the center of the floor.

STEP 10: PLACEMENT I elected to have the surface lines all face the same direction (I thought it might help with sweeping the floor). The tiles all fit together nicely.

STEP 11: CUSTOM CUTS I cut pieces to fit around doors, cabinets and other obstacles. Because I chose one corner as an anchor, the floor is firmly locked into place and I can get precise measurements.

STEP 12: TRICKS I used a piece of discarded mat material to extend an angle from this pipe and mark down the cut I needed to make.

STEP 13: LAST PIECE I used a scrap for this last piece. By cutting and measuring carefully I ended up with two full tiles to use as replacements.

STEP 14: GAPS Here I measured the angle of the wall incorrectly and ended up with an unsightly gap. Rather than cut a new piece, I cut a long triangle from a discarded piece and wedged it into the gap.

STEP 15: SUCCESS Want to try out our new floor? Enroll in Kick Fusion, our drop-in friendly, fitness kickboxing class!

The memory of my failure fades with each nightly practice. I will try again during the breaking portion of the next belt promotion test. I am confident, almost elated. I can almost feel my hands pushing through the eighth and final cap.

The caps are stacked eight high. I step onto the carpet, my left foot forward, almost touching the cinder block. I rehearse my break. I breathe out completely and I scream a ki-hap from the depths of my core and I strike with commitment and intensity, but not precision. I fail. Again.

All of my best effort, my commitment to succeed are not enough. I am not good enough. I doubt the value of my quest. What do I earn by breaking Master Galli’s record? Bragging rights? A photo to impress girls? The whole exercise seems so pointless. What value is breaking prowess anyway? Like the saying goes, “the bricks don’t hit back” right? What an unworthy opponent is a stack of cinder!

Undeterred, Master Galli has me resume the breathing, coordination and ki drills after our very next class. In spite of my doubts, I train. I focus on my unworthy opponent. I practice until the drills become routine; until the practice becomes an end unto itself.

It is six months since I first tried to break Master Galli’s record. And, it is test day again. My fellow students sit indian-style on the floor, exhausted from their test, watching as I prepare for my third attempt.

I stand in front of the stack, left foot forward, almost touching the cinder block. I am not nervous. I press my palm onto the top cap and feel its resistance, its universal disregard. I don’t care about winning a record. I don’t care about impressing anyone. Utterly calm, I breathe out completely. My heart beats. I smash all eight caps with a pinpoint-precise blast of energy and body mechanics. I don’t even hear the applause.

I look up to see Master Galli smiling with pride. He doesn’t care that I broke his record. He knows that the caps don’t matter; that success is found not in the actual break, but in the cultivation of an indomitable will and the depth of character to stalk down a challenge with courage and conviction. The caps were not my opponent, they were merely a focal point to reveal my true challenger as a martial artist: myself.

I did not defeat Master Galli by breaking his record; I committed myself even stronger to being his student. The lessons I learned about persistence and self-discipline when I was sixteen years old are with me everytime I take on a new challenge and find the inner strength to follow my dreams without fear. Even as a teacher today, with my own school, I am always and will forever be Master Galli’s student.

As he trained me to follow the Way of the Warrior, so I train others. Fighting Chance Seattle is a school where we train in the tradition and the philosophy of the martial arts as intensely as we work on our kickboxing and self-defense. Come join us.